ArticlePloS one2018
Cough-aerosol cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the prediction of outcomes after exposure. A household contact study in Brazil.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Respiratory Isolation for Tuberculosis to Reduce Community-based Transmission: A Systematic Review.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of two diagnostic intervention packages for community-based active case finding for tuberculosis: an open-label randomized controlled trial.Nature medicine · 2023Trial
- Detection of AerosolizedOpen forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Dynamic of infectious aerosols generated by cough from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.Journal of aerosol science · 2025Article
- Differentially culturableJournal of medical microbiology · 2025Article
- Assessing Infectiousness and the Impact of Effective Treatment to Guide Isolation Recommendations for People With Pulmonary Tuberculosis.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Review
- The yield of tuberculosis contact investigation in São Paulo, Brazil: a community-based cross-sectional study.Epidemiology and infection · 2025Article
- Association of Mycobacterium tuberculosis aerosolization and HIV coinfection in the index case with T cell responses in household contacts.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Household contact antigen-speciResearch square · 2024Article
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis cough aerosol culture status associates with host characteristics and inflammatory profiles.Nature communications · 2024Article
- NTCA Guidelines for Respiratory Isolation and Restrictions to Reduce Transmission of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Community Settings.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
- The Titanic question in TB control: Should we worry about the bummock?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Tuberculosis Infectiousness is Associated with Distinct Clinical and Inflammatory Profiles.Research square · 2024Article
- Diagnosis and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection among household contacts in inland Bahia, Brazil: a cross-sectional follow-up study.Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina · 2024Article
- Assessing vaccine-mediated protection in an ultra-low dose Mycobacterium tuberculosis murine model.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Infectious and Inflammatory Pathways to Cough.Annual review of physiology · 2023Review
- Exhaled Mycobacterium tuberculosis Predicts Incident Infection in Household Contacts.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Article
- Early alveolar macrophage response and IL-1R-dependent T cell priming determine transmissibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Tuberculosis: First in Flight.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2022Article
- Ultra-low Dose Aerosol Infection of Mice with Mycobacterium tuberculosis More Closely Models Human Tuberculosis.Cell host & microbe · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMycobacterium tuberculosis cultures of cough-generated aerosols from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) are a quantitative method to measure infectiousness and to predict secondary outcomes in exposed contacts. However, their reproducibility has not been established.
objectiveTo evaluate the predictive value of colony-forming units (CFU) of M. tuberculosis in cough aerosols on secondary infection and disease in household contacts in Brazil.
methodsAdult sputum smear+ and culture+ pulmonary TB cases underwent a standard evaluation and were categorized according to aerosol CFU. We evaluated household contacts for infection at baseline and at 8 weeks with TST and IGRA, and secondary disease.
resultsWe enrolled 48 index TB cases; 40% had negative aerosols, 27% low aerosols (<10 CFU) and 33% high aerosols (≥10 CFU). Of their 230 contacts, the proportion with a TST ≥10 mm at 8 weeks was 59%, 65% and 75%, respectively (p = 0.34). Contacts of high aerosol cases had greater IGRA readouts (median 4.6 IU/mL, IQR 0.02-10) when compared to those with low (0.8, 0.2-10) or no aerosol (0.1, 0-3.7; p = 0.08). IGRA readouts in TST converters of high aerosol cases (median 20 IU/mL, IQR 10-24) were larger than those from aerosol-negative (0.13, 0.04-3; p = o.o2). 8/9 (89%) culture+ secondary TB cases occurred in contacts of aerosol+ cases.
conclusionAerosol CFU predicts quantitatively IGRA readouts among household contacts of smear positive TB cases. Our results strengthen the argument of using cough aerosols to guide targeted preventive treatment strategies, a necessary component of current TB elimination projections.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.